Want to become a cop in WA? You may have to wait a while

An "oversupply of recruit applicants" has prompted WA Police to close recruit applications on Thursday and not re-open them again until July next year.

It essentially means West Australians wanting to become a cop who didn't get their applications in before 4pm on Thursday, will have to wait eight months.

WA Police have told WAtoday they are in the "fortunate position of having an oversupply of recruit applicants" coupled with "all-time low" officer attrition rates.

"There are sufficient applicants in the current selection pool to fill the projected recruit schools for 2018," a WA Police Force spokesperson said.

"As a result, police recruiting will close applications on the 30th of November. Applications will re-open in July next year in time to process and place successful applicants in the selection pool for recruit schools in 2019."

In the meantime, the force will continue to process applications for the 2018 Aboriginal Cadet Program and Protective Services Officers.

But WA Police Union president George Tilbury has raised concerns with the move and said the decision amounted to a recruitment "freeze."

Mr Tilbury said there was already a "large pool of applicants awaiting a position in a recruit squad."

"The WA Police Force is facing a testing period. With tight budgets, a token commitment to additional frontline police numbers and increasing workloads across the state, which is putting immense pressure on our members, the force needs to find the balance between the bottomline and the frontline," he said.

The union alluded to the halt on recruitment on Facebook on Monday when it posted a recent video New Zealand Police put together encouraging people to join their police force.

"Great video - unlikely the Western Australia Police Force will be making recruiting videos anytime soon seeing they have suspended recruiting," the post read.

The union's Facebook post. Photo: WA Police Union.

Mr Tilbury said in the lead up to this year's state election, the union had called for an additional 1000 cops.

"It was embarrassing that neither of the major parties made a strong commitment to police numbers and both are going to be held to account when crime surges and response times blow out," he warned.

"We now know, after the election, had one side made an announcement to increase police numbers then it would have been matched by the other.

"That is simply not good enough and both parties need to strongly reconsider their stance on law and order because come 2021, we will need more than 1000 police officers to keep up with demand and the unrelenting pressure, so best they start finding the money to fund a massive commitment."

Last week at the union's annual conference it emerged backroom jobs within the force were on the chopping block and sworn officers may have to pick up their work as a result.